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Sorry this is so long...
Update: Everything about adoption has prepared me for moving slow, and I am sure there will be plenty of time for that, but as of right now, things are moving fast.
We were referred to a lawyer by a close friend. She actually called me at home last night, and without billing me a cent, gave me advice for an hour about how to proceed. Sharing some of the details with her (including some that I have not mentioned) she felt we needed to move quickly. It looks like I am going to drive from Texas to Illinois tomorrow and bring her home with me. It appears that there are some benefits to her physically being in the State of Texas when we assert legal jurisdiction. I guess July 4th is going to be HER independance day.
My mother (who as I mentioned) babysits her and knows her, is going to come back to Texas with us and stay for a week or so. I have daycare lined up here. The lawyer is writing up a release for us to legally keep her for a while, but we won't have any kind of guardianship for a while. We'll just have to trust God and walk on egg-shells.
As for her sister, she'll be on my heart. They have different relationship with her. Her personality-type is better suited to the rules of the house. But I am still very concerned about her. My family will be closely monitoring the situation and if need be, we may need to act on that situation as well. I know that they won't offer her to us, and that they aren't physically abusing the girls. From what I understand, emotional abuse is very hard to prove in court. So, again, we may not have much choice.
I have a 5 year old son who is very personable and outgoing. He's also got a pretty big heart. We are speaking with him about it tonight. We are planning on speaking in temporary terms like, "Your cousin is coming to stay with us for a while, it will be kind of like having a little sister, doesn't that sound fun?" We are also planning on speaking about it to her in temporary terms like, "Do you want to come and see my house in Texas?" I am hopeful that staying with us will eventually become her choice.
Any advice for the first few days?
Thanks for all of the support and advice. I'll try to keep everyone posted.
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